Marinopoulos stores to go under the hammer

Delays in the process of streamlining the Marinopoulos supermarket chain are having a direct impact on the property market too, as the owners of the properties that house the chain's stores are suffering from the debts that have accumulated over the last 18 months.

A case in point is Zenon Properties SA, which belongs to APN Funds Management Ltd and owns 16 of the chain's stores and storage spaces. After receiving a court order and appointing Ernst & Young as a special administrator, the company has put its portfolio up for sale in a tender set to take place on February 10. Zenon Properties has been in a state of bankruptcy for the last few years now, struggling first with the major drop in property values and then with Marinopoulos's rent payment delays.

According to data from the fund's financial reports, the delays in Carrefour-Marinopoulos (as it was then known)...